Rangers 2 - 0 Chelsea Sat 28/07/07

Nacho Novo (85)
Filip Sebo (86)

Nacho Novo and Filip Sebo scored late goals to give Rangers a 2-0 win over Chelsea in their Ibrox friendly.

Novo, a second-half substitute for Kris Boyd, hit the net on 85 minutes with a blistering drive from 20 yards beyond Cudicini before Sebo scoredm in the 86 minute after he came off the bench to fire in an incredible effort from a tight angle to seal a memorable win.

The win sets Rangers up perfectly for the first leg of their Champions League second-round qualifier against FK Zeta on Tuesday.

A packed Ibrox Stadium applauded both sets of players prior to kick-off but the visitors almost silenced after only 20 seconds with a lightning quick move.

Shevchenko picked the ball up on the left and squared the ball to Steve Sidwell but the former Reading midfielder shot went wide of target.

Three minutes later and it was Rangers that should have taken an early lead.

Davie Weir found Kris Boyd with a long pass behind the Chelsea backline but the prolific hitman's control took him wide and Cech was there to save his effort.

It was clear from the start of this match that this was going to be a high-tempo, British style of game despite so many foreigners on show and the pace showed no signs of slowing down with both every player on the pitch desperate to secure a place in their manager's plans ahead of the new SPL and Premiership seasons.

Carlos Cuellar has already showed his talent to the Gers' support with his man-of-the match display against Ajax and he was again looking confident and assured up against the £40m strikeforce of Drogba and Shevchenko.

The competitive nature of this friendly was evident on 25 minutes when Barry brought down Florent Malouda from the back and Drogba pushed the Gers' captain before being roundly booed by the Ibrox faithful.

Apart from the two early opportunities chances in front of goal were few and far between up until the half-hour mark with Terry provided a steadying influence at the back for Chelsea although Darcheville was causing the England captain a few headaches.

The first-half, however, was to end goalless despite Malouda firing a terrific 25-yard effort inches wide of McGregor's goal on the 42nd minute.

Sebo was greeted by a rapturous applause but after a minute of being on he was clobbered by John Terry and referee Dougal had no option but to issue the defender with a yellow card.

The Slovakian was clearly in the mood but once again his finishing let him down on 66 minutes when Novo sent him clear on goal but his effort, with only Cudicini to beat, was very poor to say the least.

Wright-Phillips picked the ball up on the right side of the 18-yard box and his cutback found Pizarro. The striker, who was linked with a move to Ibrox, had his close-range shot blocked by Andy Webster before Roy Carroll made a confident stop from a scorching Obi Mikel shot from 20-yards.

The game looked to be finishing goalless but Novo and Sebo stepped up and made it a truly memorable day for the Rangers fans at the death.

RANGERS: McGregor (Carroll 45), Hutton (Murray 45), Weir (Webster 45), Cuellar, Papac (Broadfoot 45), Ferguson, McCulloch (Sebo 62), Hemdani, Adam (Burke 81), Darcheville (Beasley 45), Boyd (Novo 45),

Subs Not Used: Smith, Thomson, Gow,

Ref: Stuart Dougal

Man-of-the-match: Carlos Cuellar

Attendance: 50,380